"You have lit
a candle in the world of music that
will never go out" – Ralph
Vaughan Williams in praise of Jean Sibelius.
This DVD is divided
into three sections: one on the Christopher
Nupen films on classical music and two
on the life and music of Sibelius.
‘The Early Years’,
covers the composer’s progress through
his early patriotic works and the glorious
melodies of the first two symphonies,
Finlandia and the Violin Concerto.
It leads up to the more restrained and
more ‘classical’ style of the Third
Symphony, composed in the tranquillity
of ‘Ainola’ (in English, Sibelius’s
wife, Aino’s House). This was the Sibelius
family’s country retreat some 45 minutes
drive outside Helsinki after he had
forsaken his more gregarious and hedonistic
life in Helsinki. The other film, ‘Maturity
and Silence’, charts Sibelius’s work
through to the towering grandeur of
the single-movement Seventh Symphony.
This is notable for its concentration
of material and its originality of structure
and unity of form. Then from the same
period there’s the great tone poem Tapiola
in which Sibelius brings a different,
original sound to the orchestra. The
film then tracks through to the long
years through which he struggled in
vain to compose an Eighth Symphony -
the pages eventually consigned to the
flames in his green ‘F major’ stove
at Ainola, by a composer who was so
exceedingly self-critical that he was
not prepared to allow anything that
would not satisfy his stringent standards.
The visual elements
of the films are striking. As to be
expected, there are many views of Finland’s
lakes and forests through the seasons:
sun glinting on snow through tall phalanxes
of trees; wisps of smoke-like cloud
threading through and gliding across
the tops of massed fir trees; mists
creeping over dozens of islands and
little islets on silvery lakes or embracing
rugged mountain tops. There is archive
film of Sibelius walking near Ainola
and many portraits of the composer at
different times of his life.
The essence of these
films is Nupen’s telling selection of
quotes from the composer’s and Aino’s
letters and writings. These show the
pains and triumphs of the progress of
a creative genius. There are so many
that stick in the memory, among them:
Sibelius’s poignant tribute to Aino
in the early days of their love; the
terrible anxiety over his health when
he feared death was looking over his
shoulder in early middle age, the pain
of a surfeit of ideas intruding upon
his waking hours and into his sleep
during the composition of the Violin
Concerto; and, conversely, his feelings
of frustration and agonising during
periods when the muse eluded him.
Vladimir Ashkenazy
conducts the Swedish Radio Symphony
Orchestra in powerful, illuminating
performances of well chosen excerpts
from all the seven symphonies except
No. 6 and Tapiola. The orchestra
is joined by the talents of Boris Belkin
as soloist in the Violin Concerto and
by the expressive voice of the renowned
Elisabeth Söderström in two
songs including Sibelius’s orchestral
song, ‘Since then I have questioned
no further’ a work that mourns the transience
of life and love.
The Christopher
Nupen Films
British TV, over the
past fifty years, has produced many
significant documentaries on composers
of classical music. Think, for instance
of the BBC Monitor and Omnibus
programmes, and Ken Russell’s acclaimed
films on Delius and Elgar.
Christopher Nupen made
a remarkable series of insightful and
sympathetic films on classical music:
many were transmitted by the BBC but
others were broadcast by United Kingdom
commercial television channels (Channel
4 and Granada Television). Part of this
splendid DVD is a collection of clips
from other Nupen productions; films
that cover the lives and music of Wagner,
Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Paganini, Mussorgsky
and Respighi as well as Sibelius. One
shows the joy of music-making by well-known
artists in their salad days: Pinchas
Zukerman, Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim
and Jacqueline Du Pré. Another
Nupen film is a poignant portrait of
a wheel-chair bound Jacqueline Du Pré
as mentor and teacher and charity worker
after her tragic encounter with multiple
sclerosis. One film covers the career
of Andrès Segovia, more than
any other man responsible for the revival
of interest in the guitar as a ‘classical’
instrument. Another tells of the incredible
child prodigy that was the pianist Evgeny
Kissin and, conversely, another documentary
features the extraordinary virtuosity
of Nathan Milstein afire even at the
age of 82!
Conclusion
At the peak of his
career Sibelius enjoyed a reputation
amongst music critics, and leading English
composers, as the greatest symphonist
of the 20th century. In America
his music was more popular with concert-goers
than any other composer living or dead.
Today, nearly fifty years since his
death the swings of fashion in music
appreciation have changed as so often
happens in the immediate period after
the death of a composer. Sibelius’s
reputation and popularity has languished
so that this important and insightful
documentary arrived most propitiously
to rekindle interest in some of the
most powerful, colourful and original
music of the 20th century.
Ian Lace
See also review
by Anne Ozorio [September
RECORDING OF THE MONTH]
Elisabeth Söderström (soprano);
Boris Belkin (violin) 
ALLEGRO FILMS 05CN [103:05]
